The author is certainly a baking guru & there were lots of recipes but I was completely underwhelmed.

This is an incredible book for anyone who loves to bake and for those just starting out in baking as well. This beautifully illustrated book has an impressive array of recipes spanning all varieties of cookie types. The recipes range from fairly straightforward to complicated but the reason this may be one of the more successful books I've come across is the meticulous attention to detail in the recipes. Every step is clearly delineated. The recipes are organized with the baking temperature and time at the top, as well as special supplies. The ingredients are very helpfully rendered in both imperial and metric units. This may be the first time I've actually weighed ingredients for a recipe and I may be hooked on that methodology.

I was a bit overwhelmed on my first scan through the book. There are so many appealing recipes! And the photos are spectacular.

I decided the best way to review this book would be by testing a sampling of the recipes. I chose four items to make. I based my choices on my experience level and the audience I was baking for: my family.

My first bake was the Fudge Pudgy Brownies. I chose this recipe because my family is very attached to my own brownie recipe and they are often quite critical of other brownies or any other brownie recipes I attempt, other than their favorite one. The recipe was easy to follow and the timing seemed on target. The brownies were rich and decadent, a perfect fudgy consistency and very flavorful. I loved them. My family, who are more critical by nature, found them a close second to my own personal recipe which is actually high praise from them.

I chose Blondie’s Blondies for my second bake. I’ve never actually made blondies before, so it seemed a good thing to try. This recipe was also easy to follow and the timing again seemed spot on. These brownies were a huge hit with the whole family. Moist and fudgy, tasting like s’mores in brownie form. My son said they are his favorite bake. They were exceptional.

For my third bake I chose the Koulourakia recipe. This is a Greek cookie and one my grandmother used to bake, so I knew it would have to be good to please the family and my own mother. The recipe was again straightforward and clear. The cookies tasted like the ones I remember having as a child. I was surprised at how accurate this recipe was and how true to the original inspiration they are. Very successful recipe.

My last bake was one I considered a bit more challenging for me, as it required me to make caramel which is something I have done only once before in my life. I chose the Caramel Surprise Snickerdoodles, which are basically snickerdoodles sandwiched with caramel. The snickerdoodle dough was easy to work with. It is best made one day ahead, so this is one recipe where it very much pays off to read all the instructions in detail before starting the process, as you won’t have same day cookies with this one. The cookies were crispy on the outside, chewy and rich on the inside. The caramel sauce was surprisingly easy to make, even though I did not have a thermometer and did end up kind of eyeballing the cooking time for it. The caramel was rich and smooth and buttery. The end result sandwich cookie was sublime. Truly. I’ve never had or made snickerdoodles that tasted so good and the caramel sauce was incredible. The family polished these off in record time.

Overall this was a very impressive book. A large selection of recipes, meticulous and detailed instructions, and every recipe I tried was an unmitigated success. I enthusiastically recommend this book to any baker, at any level of experience. The directions guide you and provide clear information. It is most necessary to read through the recipes beforehand to make sure you have all the proper ingredients, equipment, time. I will not hesitate to purchase this when it is published and it would make a lovely gift for many bakers I know.

I am eager to try more recipes.

Highest recommendation.
Overall five stars.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC and opportunity to review this book.

I cannot say enough how incredible this book is. Every cookie or bar you can imagine and it's in here. It's easy to follow, it's explained so well and I absolutely loved the pictures. It all looks and tastes incredible. A staple in the house FOR SURE and it's a total crowd pleaser.

There is truly something for every baker in this book. I often tire of making cookies because it seems like I make the same ones over and over. This is the type of book to get me out of a baking rut and to inspire me to try new flavors and combinations. The pictures are wonderful and the instructions are clear. A must-read for bakers!

Beautiful collection of cookie recipes with meticulous instructions, lovely pictures, and brief, tender introductions that convey what each cookie will be like (crispy, chewy, crumbly, delicate, etc.). Fans of the author may have encountered some of the recipes in her other publications, but it is nice to have them all together. This is a book I intend to buy when it is published.

The recipes are well-organized and well-explained, with "gems" that give insight into why they work. US and metric measurements are provided. There is an innovative appendix that identifies recipes using only egg whites, only egg yolks, recipes that are egg-free, flour-free, etc., a boon for people on restrictive diets and for cooks who are cleaning out the refrigerator.

There is a wide variety of recipes, from classic drop cookies like chocolate chip to fancy macarons. Each recipe shows serious thought, as expected from this baking authority. The chocolate chip recipe relies on browned butter and added syrup, preferably golden syrup from the UK. She suggests layers of flavor in the filling for macarons. She provides instructions for freezing her pecan squares, which would make this dessert very helpful for Thanksgiving.

One nit: The few candy recipes do not seem as well-explained as the rest of the book. They do not appear to have instructions to adjust the required temperature to elevations other than sea level or to help people calibrate their candy thermometers. Even providing the expected water test would give cooks at different elevations a framework for adapting the recipes.

A delightful book from one of the great bakers. Highly recommended.

I have been a fan of Rose Levy Beranbaum since I found The Cake Bible many years ago. I have at least half of her cookbooks. When I saw an article about The Cookie Bible coming out, I pre-ordered it. Having access to an advance e-copy before the final one is printed means I don't have to wait to start making cookies.

One of my favorite things about Rose's cookbooks is the information she gives. I am often tempted to skip the beginning chapters of cookbooks but I didn't and really enourage people to read every bit of the ones in this book because I learned new things -- and I've been baking for ages. One great thing is that she assigns KitchenAid stand mixer number speeds to descriptors like low, medium, high, etc. No guessing anymore! Same thing with a chart she put in the ingredients chapter on the approximate yield of juice and zest from one orange or lemon.

The recipes are laid out in a really well organized manner with a mise en place section to tell you things to do in advance of starting to make the dough. Measurements are given by weight (grams) and volume. For a number of the recipes she gives instructions for two different methods of making the dough: food processor and stand mixer. And the Baking Gems t the end of the recipe give you tips on why the recipe is written the way it is or additional tips to make the cookies better. Finally, she offers variations on some of the recipes.

A number of my favorite recipes from Rose's Christmas Cookies are in this book, but I aspire to bake my way through all the cookies despite my need to cut out sweets. The photographs and her description make me want to bake them all. I'll have to load up the neighbors until we get back into the office and my co-workers can eat them.

It doesn't matter how many cookie cookbooks you already have. You need this one too.

In the same way that The Cake Bible is one of my frequent gifts, I expect The Cookie Bible to join it because they are both such great baking references and learning experiences. With the publication date in November, this book will almost certainly be a Christmas gift to my adult nieces and nephews for their families.

Beranabum's new <i>The Cookie Bible</i> sets about establishing a comprehensive cookie compendium as she did with her <i>Cake Bible</i>. The book offers a wide variety of recipes for cookies, bars, and brownies, from the standard chocolate chip cookie to the tricky macaron. Detailed directions are provided for each recipe--detailed to the point of daunting, I should add. This isn't a cookbook of straightforward, fast-to-fix cookies for a family on the go. Most of the recipes are pretty labor-intensive.

Another downside for me: very few photographs. [Note: I was reading a galley so changes could still be made, but this appeared to have a finalized layout.] I really prefer my cookbooks and food magazines to have a picture for every recipe. Here, there are only a couple of photographs in each section, which is disappointing when a number of the cookies are unique. I want to know what they look like!

I have only tried one recipe so far--her take on chocolate chip cookies, which uses golden syrup. This is more of a UK ingredient but I happen to have a bottle in my cupboard, so I gave it a go. The cookies were fantastic, like the classic cookie but with a different, more complex texture. There are several more recipes I want to try, too.

Beautiful and quite comprehensive collection of recipes. I appreciated the detail and obvious effort put into this book, along with the unique recipes and notes. I found it particularly helpful that the author includes tips and tricks for most of the recipes!

This book is a complete delight. Having baked a few recipes from it now, I suspect that I will be purchasing a hard copy when it finally comes out, and that it will end up having spatters and oil stains fairly rapidly.

As an Australian, let me begin by saying SHE INCLUDES GRAMS AND ML MEASUREMENTS. Honestly I nearly cried when I saw that. Also as an Australian, however, I was confused by the reference to AA butter... and then I looked it up and I'm all: FOLKS. Why are you allowing people to sell you butter that tastes of anything but butter??

Anyway. These recipes are excruciatingly clear - and that's a good thing. I LOVE that she tells you to get the butter and egg out 30-60 min before beginning the actual process! I love that she is clear about what equipment you need! I love how precise her timings and measurements are! For someone like me who prefers very clear instructions, these recipes are perfect.

There's a good range here, too. Some are very easy; I was inspired to request this book because of listening to a podcast with Americans talking about cookies and realising that they are often very different from Australian biscuits. The very first recipe is for American-style chocolate chip biscuits, and what an intriguing version it is: brown the butter! Two sugars and golden syrup!! It might become my go-to recipe. As with so many books like this, Beranbaum wanders into is-that-really-cookie territory: meringue, rugelach, 'cake cookies'... not that I'm complaining, mind. And I'm not going to get into an argument about what makes something a cookie, either.

Highly recommended for the baker.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I swear if there is a cookie out there in the world, you will find its recipe in this book. I was pleasantly surprised to find recipes for cookies my Norwegian Great-Grandmother made when I was child, contained in this book. It is a fair representation of all countries and cultures that produce cookies and I appreciated the extra historical knowledge they added about each cookie recipe.. I also liked the tidbits of info they included at the end of each recipe as a suggestion to make it even better. That shows me they took the time to test each recipe thoroughly. I am looking forward to Christmas cookie season so I can try out many of these recipes.

I read many cookbooks/baking books. There are a few things I look for in a well thought out culinary book.

First, how is it organized? Is is east to find what you are looking for? In "The Cookie Bible" Rose has categorized cookies by type. This makes it easy to find a what you are looking for at a glance.

Second, how are the recipes presented. I cook and bake with grams. This is a big one for myself. I believe all culinary books should have grams listed in the ingredients as well as volume measurements for those who are using traditional measure. I was elated to see that the recipes were broken down into two columns. It makes it foolproof for the reader to use either system when making a recipe and get the desired results.

Third, are there photos that accompany the recipe? I realize that the bigger the book, the more expensive. However, I find it's nice to see what the final product will look like so the reader will have a guide as they are going through the recipe. Most of the recipes in this book do have an accompanying photo.

Lastly, Rose takes the time to explain what tools the reader will need and why certain ingredients work better than others. Also, many of the recipes offer a variation, so the reader will have may options to choose from. This is a well thought out book and I will be recommending to our library for purchase and I'll be buying a copy for myself.

The Cookie Bible is a really comprehensive collection of cookies and small bakes by baking maven Rose Levy Beranbaum. Due out 9th Nov 2021 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, it's 448 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

There are a number of truly perennial cookbooks like The Joy of Cooking, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, The Cake Bible (also by Beranbaum) and Fannie Farmer's classic to name just a few. This is one for *every* lover of small bakes and cookies.

This book really does have it all. There are cookies which are familiar and beloved of everyone - so it gets an A+ on completeness (a whopping huge book). There are classics both easy and challenging for all occasions. There are also beautifully presented exotic cookies with unexpected twists: soft or fruity centers, candied peel, unexpected pairing of sweet and savory and more. There are many (many!) with an international background including lebkuchen, macarons, pizelles, pepparkakor (Scandinavian gingerbreads), and so many more. I am a huge cookie/cake fanatic and I couldn't think of a single cookie which isn't represented here in one form or another.

The recipes are grouped roughly thematically: hand rolled, dropped/piped, shaped by hand, rolled & cut, holiday cookie cutouts, bars & cake cookies, meringues & candies, and extras including the author's own recipe for candied citrus peels includes enough thorough instruction, extra hints and tips, and clear photographs to likely make it alone worth the price of the book. Each recipe includes an introduction, yields, description, equipment, ingredients listed bullet-style in a sidebar with metric and American standard measures included, and step by step specific directions which are clear and easy to follow. Alternatives and special info is included in "baking gems" which are highlighted in text bars at the end of each recipe.

The photography is superb. This is a classic and comprehensive collection and will be a perennial go-to. Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

WOW!!! If you only get one cookie cookbook, it HAS to be this one! This book is appropriately named. There are cookies that I have never even heard of and I've been baking for years. Tons of recipes...tips, tricks and variations for all of them...filled with beautiful photos. I think my family will be getting a new cookie lineup for this holiday's cookie tins! Thank you to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for allowing me to review this wonderful advance copy. I can't wait to purchase a hard copy in November!

A true baker's guide to every type of cookie one could think of, this book is packed full of great recipes and helpful advice.

YUM YUM YUM. If you love cookies, you need this book. There are a TON of delicious cookie recipes to be found here. You will find whatever cookie you are looking for in here. The pictures are amazing.

Every cook's bookshelf should have at least one volume dedicated to cookies. The author of The Cookie Bible is a veteran cookbook writer, having produced The Cake Bible (which I have pawed through at a friends house and thought it was excellent) and many more cookbooks.

I love molasses cookies and am always willing to try a new variation, so I gave this book's version a go. Now I know that ginger and molasses pair well together, and that's a happy new discovery.

I'll admit I'm hesitant to try a recipe that puts a new spin on my all-time favorite cookie—snickerdoodles—but I'm going to be brave and see what happens when caramel is included. I trust this author to not lead me astray, and look forward to many new cookie adventures to come.

This isn't a 'casual' cookie book. It strives for technically perfect cookies. If you aspire to become a master cookie baker, you'll want this resource on your cookbook shelf.

My thanks to author Rose Levy Beranbaum, NetGalley, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for allowing me to read a digital advance review copy of this book. This review is my honest and unbiased opinion.

The title says it all: this is an extensive collection of cookie recipes, organized by method (drop, piped, etc.). You'll find classics--the first recipe is a chocolate chip cookie--and plenty of unusual flavor combinations and creative ideas, from churro nuggets to date crescents. Almost enough pictures to satisfy my preferred 1:1 recipe to photo ratio. And the photography is beautiful, of course. You'll definitely want to page through this and mark some things to make for holidays and rainy Sundays.

A wide variety of types of cookies and attention to detail make this a great book for any cookie baker. Many of the recipes do have multiple phases (pre-chilling, etc.), multiple steps, or require planning ahead, but there are some basic recipes that can be made on the spur of the moment. The recipes provide both weights and volume measurements, and the book has plenty of pictures, always a bonus for bakers who like to see what the finished product should look like.

I'm familiar with Berenbaum's famous Cake Bible — a friend of ours who is an accomplished amateur baker made our wedding cake using it, among other things. Like the earlier work, the Cookie Bible really is like the actual, you know, Bible bible in that it is both authoritative and prescriptive. Berenbaum's recipes are very precise and detailed; she gives ingredient weight in grams as well as volume measurements. Since eggs vary in size even within grade, rather than merely specifying a certain number of large eggs (or whites or yolks) she specifies a mass in grams. She'll specify bleached or unbleached flour depending on the recipe and calls for some specialized ingredients, like tapioca starch and muscovado sugar. I am not ordinarily that precise in my baking (understatement!) but in testing this cookbook I used the metric weights and exact ingredients to give everything a fair chance.

Berenbaum's recipes are laid out very well. The table of ingredients is easy to read, and breaking the numbered steps into clusters for the separate tasks (make the batter, pipe the cookies, bake, etc.) makes it easier to keep your place and know what's going on.

I baked 3 types of cookies to “test drive” the cookbook: Blondie's Blondies, Alfajores, and Les Macarons au Chocolat de Bernachon (with the ganache sandwich option). The blondies and alfajores came out technically perfect; there were some problems with the macarons.

The blondies are actually a s'mores bar. My family (two adults and two teens) felt that they might be better with a less dark chocolate (classic s'mores are made with Hershey bars, after all, not the 60% cacoa bittersweet chocolate called for in the recipe) and that we'd actually probably rather eat actual s'mores around a campfire than a cookie imitation in the house, but despite the complaints, the entire batch vanished in a couple of days. Her tip of spraying the knife (I used a pizza wheel, actually) with nonstick spray made for the most neatly-cut bars I've ever produced

Making the alfajores started with making the dulce de leche. I usually make it by just putting the can of milk in a simmering water bath overnight, but I followed Berenbaum's directions, transferring the condensed milk to a canning jar and keeping it at a bare simmer for 6-7 hours. The glass jar let me check how far the caramelization had progressed, and let me tell you, this is the best dulce de leche I have ever made. I am an absolute convert to the jar method and I'm even thinking about getting a sous vide device for making it in the future. I was not in love with the alfajores on the day I made them — the cookie part seemed too crispy and the lemon zest in the cookie distracted my palate from the caramelized filling. I had one later that had sat in a sealed container for a couple of days and it was just about perfect — the cookies had softened and the lemon bite had mellowed. I will say that it felt like a lot of work to get a batch of 10 sandwich cookies, but the recipe is still a winner.

The chocolate macarons were less successful. I've always been intimidated by macarons, but I figured Berenbaum could teach me if anybody could. I followed the directions and ended up with flat, thin, crunchy cookies with a pebbled and pitted surface, some of them burnt. The ones that weren't burnt were delicious, tasting richly of chocolate and almond, whether eaten on their own or with the ganache, but they weren't very much like macarons, even allowing for the fact that she says these are a bit coarser than their Parisian cousins. I think there were three problems with my procedure that led to the imperfect cookies. First, the instructions say to process the sugar, cocoa powder, and almonds until “very fine” and I suspect I did not actually go fine enough. It would have been helpful to have some kind of comparison — “as fine as flour” or “as fine as superfine sugar” or something. (Side note — some of the recipes call for processing ingredients until they are “as fine as sand”. Sand comes in many grades, so this is not a helpful descriptor.) Second, I used the dimensions given — I piped balls 1” in diameter and 1/2” high, then spread them out to 2” diameter using a dampened pastry brush. This results in cookies that are only 1/8” thick, which is why I got thin, crunchy cookies rather than a more classic macaron texture. I think there must be some error in the dimensions or math, especially since I ended up with many more cookies than the 3 sheets of 15 each described in the recipe. I didn't see any pictures of the macarons, so I couldn't check visually to see if I was supposed to make them thicker. Finally, the cookies go at two temperatures — they start at 325 and then the temp is raised by 100 degrees halfway through baking. The “Baking Gems” notes on the recipe say that the oven won't actually get that hot and will be back to the proper low temperature in time for the next sheet. This turns out not to be true for my oven, which heats quite quickly, so I burned a couple of sheets of cookies before I realized that I actually needed to turn the oven off and leave it open for a few minutes and then preheat again between batches to get both temperatures right. So, I got a tasty cookie that wasn't that much like a macaron, and I think that if (probably when, it's a good cookie) I make them again I'll be able to get a better result based on the things I learned the first time. The ganache was perfect, by the way — I would never have thought of sieving it to make it smooth, but it works great.

To sum up: In two out of three recipes, following her precise instructions resulted in technically perfect (and beautiful) cookies, though ones that weren't exactly to my family's taste. In the third, I had some problems which I think resulted from a lack of illustrations and a lack of precision and possibly an error in the recipe, but I still got a delicious cookie. I got some very useful technique tips, like sieving the ganache and spraying the cutting tool, that gave a more elegant result and that I will definitely use going forward. All that said, I'm not sure this is the cookbook for me — I'd rather be less precise and get a sloppier but tasty cookie. But if you're happy following very precise directions in order to get a technically excellent result, this will be a great cookbook for you.

The Cookie Bible by Rose Beranbaum is the ultimate guide to all things cookies. Do not start reading this book late at night or you will find yourself baking until the wee hours of the morning. I knew that I had found the perfect recipe book for cookies as I read this quote from the author - “I’d rather have one perfect cookie made with butter than a whole bunch made with shortening.”

This book covers all of the basics with sections entitled Golden Rules for Making the Best Cookies, Ingredients and Equipment as well as having a seemingly endless array of cookie recipes. With over 400 pages devoted to recipes, every category of cookies seems well-covered. Many of the recipes include “Baking Gems” or helpful tips for that particular cookie. There is even an appendix that allows the baker to find recipients that are flourless, eggless or with egg yolks or whites only.

I expect to have many happy hours of baking as I work my way through the many delectable cookie recipes. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.)